Transniestria is a breakaway state squeezed between Moldova to the west and Ukraine to the east. When the Soviet Union was coming undone and the various republics declaring independence, Transniestria went against the grain and fought a war to stay in the Soviet Union. While no nation recognizes this fledging state (with the exception of

During the Summer and Fall I wrote a series called “Revolutions” for Nowhere Magazine. The series is now complete; a list of all the published article is below. I love learning about and writing these topics so I’ll probably sporadically continue the series on my own and keep updating this list. Possible topics on my

When the industrial revolution was peaking in England, workers were smashing the machines. There were earlier more isolated instances of industrial sabotage, but from 1811 to 1817 English workers organized and smashed with such ferocity that at one point more British soldiers were facing off against their own working class than Napoleon’s French army, with

Communist rebels taking over huge swaths of land in India may sound like a forgotten chapter of the Cold War, but it’s not. Communist militias are now active in 20 of India’s 28 states, control hundreds of small villages and the government describes the Maoist/Naxalite insurgency as the biggest internal security threat the nation has

The city of lights; the city of love—Paris is most famous for being in flames. The infamous Paris Commune burned so bright that upwards of thirty thousand Parisians died during the government siege of the city in La Semaine ensanglantei—the bloody week. Paris has a long history of capturing the world’s attention with romantic idealism

Andry Rajoelina looks younger than he is, impressive considering the former DJ became president of Madgascar in 2009 at age 34. Madagascar’s constitution requires candidates to be at least 40, but the baby-faced leader, often called Andy, seized power during a confusing and bloody political crisis. As a teenager, Andy became known around the capital,

Italy is ripe for comedic relief. After electing (and twice re-electing) a prime minister convicted of tax evasion and accused of multiple raunchy sex scandals while in office, their political scene has a new star: a comedian. The Five-Star Movement, political satirist Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment group, was started in 2009 when Silvo Berlusconi, then 73,